The Belgians are coming - The Belgians are coming........BreckEpic Stage #5

......That is until Nick dropped the hammer and torched the last half of the course with me hanging on his wheel! We padded our margin by 15 minutes today, and extended our lead to a little over 36 minutes.

Today was another "EPIC" day. One of those rides that you do once or twice a year because it takes so long and beats you up. We topped out above 12,500.

Today will be a story with pictures because I am exhausted!

The Police Escort roll out - Started in town and headed to the base of the ski area.


TEAM 303 - In the new white kit, not so dirt friendly.

That is the town of Breck below - We started with a long single track climb up the ski resort.

Still climbing - At that chair lift we turn and start down hill. - But not for long!

After a little single track and some fire road we hit a long rocky single track climb, on our way to 12,500 for the first time of the day.

This is the first aid station, Nick is at the aid station table and just to the left of the picture are the Belgians. Here is where Nick started to drop the hammer.

We are headed to the top of the ridge line just to the right of the tree.

You can see the trail just to the right of the tree - good luck riding it. This was the start of a solid 50 minute hike a bike. Brutal.

Still hiking, above tree line now.

Yes that says 12,505 Feet.

A nice little single track was waiting for us at the summit. Little did we know that we still had a lot more to climb.

Nick crossing a swampy meadow - deep mud and slick rocks.

Here is what was waiting around the corner - the trail goes up between the snow fields and over the top of the little peak in the middle of the picture.

Here we are climbing the last huge climb - you can see riders above us on the trail at the top of the photo.

Looking back from the summit - The single track trail is just below the snow field and crosses the side of the mountain.

Bombing down the back side of wheeler pass - we dropped from 12,500 to 9500 feet in 2 miles. It was steep and fast. Trying to take pictures and ride down hill is not a good idea.

Some more single track headed back to Breck. A fast 10 miles with some tough little grinder up hills.

At the finish, a coca cola, some water mellon, and shade was a welcome site.

Tomorrow is our last day - another 35 miles and 7000 feet of climbing. We will cross the divide 2 times.